Supporting nurses on International Nurses Day

RDN is proud to support International Nurses Day this Friday 12 May, which coincides with the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. The theme for International Nurses Day this year is ‘Our Nurses. Our Future’.

With nurses being the largest and most geographically dispersed health profession, as well as the largest group of professionals providing primary health care, nurses have an influential role in the provision of health care accessibility, particularly within rural and remote communities.  

By being embedded within communities, surrounded by the social conditions in which people live, grow, work and age, primary health care nurses, with their diverse scope of practice, are well positioned to play a critical role in the prevention and management of chronic and complex disease, and care that ultimately helps to avoid potentially preventable hospitalisations. 

RDN supports the future of rural and regional nursing in NSW/ACT through a number of initiatives.The RDN Nursing and Allied Health recruitment & Workforce Development team can provide recruitment, orientation and retention support services to nurses and allied health professionals moving to rural and remote NSW, including grants. You can visit our Nursing and Allied Health home page to apply for recruitment support or to search for nursing and allied health vacancies. 

NSRP supporting the future of country nursing

In a new initiative to support student nurses, RDN and the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) have partnered to deliver the Nurse Student Rural Placement (NSRP) Project in NSW. The project aims to address nurse workforce shortages by expanding rural primary health care clinical placements for nursing students.  

It’s envisaged that by supporting students to positively discover and assess the possibilities of a rural primary health care nursing career, through rural immersive placement experiences, it will support and enable nursing students to see this as a viable, diverse and attractive career path following graduation.  

RDN’s Project Lead, Kellie Ross, said “we would love to see that this opportunity generates a positive placement experience among the nurse student cohort – one that fosters new friendships, greater autonomy and confidence, enhances their learning, and offers the students the chance to form connections within the community.” 

The NSRP Project aims to support students to positively discover and assess the possibilities of a rural primary health care nursing career by providing the opportunity to undertake high quality clinical placements in General Practice, Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Services, residential aged-care facilities, community health, schools and other primary health care services.  

With the nursing curriculum and clinical placement opportunities remaining predominantly acute-care based within large metropolitan tertiary hospitals, focusing on the bio-medical model of illness, this has limited the exposure nursing students have to the role of primary health care nursing and thus has limited not only their preparedness for transitioning into primary health care nursing, but their ability to see this as a viable, diverse and attractive career path. 

“From nurse to nurse, our biggest advice is - allow yourself the ability to move outside of your comfort zone. Rural nursing has brought some of the best and most memorable experiences yet,” Kellie said. 

To learn more about the NSRP Project, click here or contact RDN’s Project Lead Kellie Ross, via email: nursingplacements@nswrdn.com.au